The European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) and National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) were in Naivasha from the 4th - 8th July 2022 for an induction and training workshop that brought together Early Warning Regional Coordinators and Media Monitors engaged within the #propeacekenya project.
The workshop aimed to achieve the Pro-Peace Kenya project’s goal of promoting peace and cohesion in Kenya by preventing and mitigating electoral conflicts through an established Media Monitoring mechanism and Early Warning, Early Response system, domiciled at the NCIC Situation Room.
The training program served as an avenue to enhance the integration of both teams and highlight their collaboration in media monitoring and coordination of early warning actions across the country towards ensuring Kenya experiences a peaceful election period ahead of the 9th August 2022 General Elections. Both teams were equipped with necessary additional skills and knowledge to effectively work together in the newly established NCIC Situation Room.
Agenda for the training was based had participants in joint sessions where topics covered included: the role of media in the electoral process; introduction and objectives of the NCIC media monitoring unit; conflict analysis, reporting tools and channels; peacebuilding and conflict mitigation; operationalisation of the situation room as well as team building exercises for bonding.
Separate sessions were also conducted for the teams to further focus on aspects of their work as Media Monitors and Early Warning, Early Response Coordinators. For the Regional Coordinators, the breakout session focused on conflict mapping, situation briefs, conflict analysis tools, peace monitors toolkit and elections scenario building while the session for media monitors focused on how to monitor news bulletins and debate case studies. Furthermore, simulation exercises were conducted and media monitoring guidelines developed. Participants also learned about qualitative analysis of specific cases of monitoring hate speech and building a media monitoring database.
